Adrift in Manhattan (2007)

From award-winning director Alfredo De Villa comes a moving and heart wrenching film centering on a beautiful and mysterious doctor (Heather Graham) a young photographer (Victor Rasuk) who becomes infatuated with her and her patient (Dominic Chianese) a painter going blind. A sexy and suspenseful ride through the city - Adrift in Manhattan is an intricately woven award-winning film that critics have been raving about!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 025195026987 Manufacturer No: 68103408 Product Description

Disappointing

This is one of those movies that sound like a very good idea but don't really work. The screenplay is a little weak, the relationship between Simon and his mother is downright creepy (for no apparent reason), and unfortunately Heather Graham is not good enough an actress to pull off the grieving-mother part.
June 22, 2008

An OK Movie

A pleasant movie but nothing special . An Ok way to spend a couple of hours . Acting was fine but plot dragged. February 18, 2008

Three Strangers Lost In The City

The city of 8 million, and in this city Simon, Rose, and Tomás are lonely and lost souls. Their lives become entwined and we begin to see the souls of the lost.

Rose is an optometrist who has lost her two year old son who fell out of an open window. She can never forgive herself so can anyone else? She has separated from her husband and he wants to find his way back, but Rose?

Simon is a young man interested in photography,working in a photo shop and one day he sees Rose and starts photographing her. She becomes an obsession and he follows her. Simon lives with his alcoholic mother and life is difficult for them both.

Tomás is a painter and works as a mailman at a business. Rose has just told him that he is going blind. He has no family or close friends. But he is interested in a younger co-worker and their relationship takes hold.

These three people live along the 1/9 subway line and much of the story takes place in the subway. We see Rose getting off the subway and having coffee in the park before she goes to work. Simon is following her and Tomas is having increased difficulty with his vision. He cannot see to paint and he cannot tell his new love he is going blind.

Each of them is existing in a place of their own and none can ask for help. It is only when Rose confronts Simon that something changes. Rose also talks and advises Tomas about his disease and his new relationship. This contact with each other brings them back into the world and their lives can move on, to what, we are not sure.

I found Heather Graham as Rose lacking in emotion. I did not feel her pain as much as sense it, and she was unable to connect with me. Simon was excellent in his portrayal as the confused teenager. And, Tomas was superb in his role as the painter lost in his blindness.

This film was a nice surprise but in saying this, the film did not go anywhere. We are left to suppose and I want to suppose all is right in the world.

Recommended. prisrob 02-10-08

Shout
Killing Me Softly (Unrated Edition)
February 11, 2008

Fragments of Coincidence and Connection

Though there have been many films of late that address the issues of the isolation of the individual in a society increasingly settling for homogeneity, few have the honesty and simplicity of presentation as Alfredo De Villa's ADRIFT IN MANHATTAN. Perhaps the reason this film works so well is that instead of dealing with the usual tropes, De Villa restricts his story to three individuals who are suffering isolation in the noise and autonomy of New York City and are thus 'adrift' in a life that seems flat and without a beacon of hope. The story De Villa weaves is one of interaction of these characters by almost serendipitous incidents, moments that change their lives - at least for a while.

Teenager Simon Colon (Victor Rasuk) lives with his overbearing mother Marta (Marlene Forte) and gets through his life almost without speaking, working in a camera shop, spending his idle hours photographing people in the park. Tommaso Pensara (Dominic Chianese) is an elderly painter and music lover who lives alone and supports himself by being the 'mail boy' in a large firm: his loneliness is heightened when he discovers he has macular degeneration and will go blind. The physician who makes his diagnosis is Dr. Rose Phipps (Heather Graham) who is grieving from the recent death of her 2-year old child and is unable to continue her marriage to literature professor Mark Phipps (William Baldwin).

The threads of coincidence begin to tie these people together when Simon begins to photograph Rose in a manner that resembles stalking, when Tommaso notices and desires and older lady at his workplace, Isabel Parades (Elizabeth Peña) and is encouraged by Dr Rose to share his potential blindness with this friend, and when Rose explores the attention Simon bestows on her, filling an emotional need for both parties. Naturally the development of these intersections is more complex but at the same time the manner in which they develop is very tender and gentle.

Some viewers may find the film meandering a bit too much: this is not linear storytelling but rather shifts in incidents and moods and gradual changes that occur among these simple but needy people, much like the coincidences and random kindnesses occur to the sensitive eye. The cast is very fine and the cinematography and musical score sustain the mood of the piece. This film requires involvement on the part of the viewer, and that involvement has its rewards. Grady Harp, February 08
February 5, 2008

Three stories, three yawns

When i took a chance on renting this from blockbuster, the checkout lady said most people who rented it thought it was better than expected. I'm not so sure I'd be that kind. I could be critical with the eye doctor's exam not making sense (my background) or how she (Heather Grahm) breaks some news to her patient about a bad eye condition ...but sticking to the story I'd say it's just kind of slow. A little wierd also in the sense that this eye doctor is being stalked by a very quiet man in his early 20s and she is eventually ok with it. I won't spoil what happens with the stalker but the result is kind of weird. The other story in this movie has to do with the patient (actor who plays junior soprano) loosing his vision, pretty straight forward, ...yawn. Oh yea, he's a painter, can someone say cliche? I guess a third person in heather grahams life is her husband who she is separated with, he's one of the Baldwin bros. Not much going on with that third story line either. Overall, i'd save this one for when you really have nothing else to watch. January 27, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...